"A word in earnest is as good as a speech"~Charles Dickens: Bleak House

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Throwback Thursday .... without pictures

There is a Facebook "thing" that people do called Throwback Thursday in which people post pictures of themselves back in the day. On my way to work this morning I had my music on shuffle and it just so happens that each and every song brought me back to a moment in time back in the day. It is amazing to me that a song can bring you back to a moment in time so vividly you remember the place, the people, the smell, the feelings. So I thought today as I sit and wait for my class to start I would share with you some of those songs and maybe share a story or two.

This song reminds me of the Roller Palace. As a teenager we would go roller skating every weekend like it was a religion: Friday Night 7-10, sometime on Saturday and Sunday 1-7. So many of the friends I still have I met there. The smell was a combination of Aquanet hairspray, sweat and cheap cardboard pizza. They made this drink we called a "suicide" which consisted of all the fountain drinks they had (Pepsi, Rootbeer, Sprint, Orange & Mountain Dew) in one glass.

The best thing about the Roller Palace is I go there now with my kids. The rug is the same, the tables are the same, the decor is the same and they even serve the same pizza and suicides.

Van Halen - really is there anything more to say! This particular song brings me right back to the 7th grade and dances that used to be held in the basement of a church. It was always hot and the fruit punch was always more like water with red food coloring. I remember it was so dark (which of course was what middle school kids wanted most in a dance - perhaps the chance to steal a kiss or two in the corner). But I don't remember much of that going on in 7th grade. What I remember most were groups of giggling girls and groups of boys all standing around the dance floor for the first hour or so of the dance. And then some dancing, and then the waiting. Hoping that the boy you liked would ask you to dance the last dance. Eventually the boy I wanted to ask me did. I would say it was a disappointing first boyfriend, but what did I really know at 12. But I remember this song playing in my friends house as group of girls fought for the mirror, the hairdryer, the curling iron and the hairspray. They were good, good times.

For today I will leave you with this little ditty:

Who could forget The Breakfast Club - the defining move of John Hughes and of my generation.

Dear Mr. Vernon,
We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think your crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us. In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain .... and an athlete .... and a basket case .... a princess .... and a criminal. Does that answer your question?
Sincerely yours,
The Breakfast Club

I had to BEG to see this movie at the movie theatre. We had two main movie theatres near my house at the time. One had about 10 screens and that was the big theatre. Then there was one that only had three screens and that was where I saw the Breakfast Club - all 5 times (it is a Barnes & Noble now). Going to the movies was still a pretty big deal when I was 14. It was like walking into another world when the lights went down and the movie came on - no IMax, no 3D, no super loud surround sound that causes hearing loss - just a story and a movie. We all identified with the Breakfast Club in one way or another. Most of us can still recite it for you if you would really like us to.

While the 1980s were a little loud and weird it seems so innocent compared to what teenagers have to worry about now. I am sure every generation thinks this way, but in the wake of school shootings, designer drugs, and killer STDs it really does seem like for all the craziness the 80s generation was the last generation of calm.

No comments:

Post a Comment

About Me

Life with lupus changes your perspective of life. This is what this blog is about - getting back to basics! Living life with laughter! Observing the world around us and accepting the craziness of it!
I am the mom to two phenomenal boys and a wife to a fabulous husband who takes exceptional care of me no matter what!
Life is good!